The Week

Published on September 15, 2003.

Snapple Beverage Corp. signed a $100 million plus deal to become the official beverage of New York City. The Cadbury Schweppes' unit has exclusive rights to sell its fruit juices in New York City schools beginning immediately. The roughly 1,200 New York City public schools include 1.1 million students, 80,000 teachers and several thousand workers. Beginning Jan.1, Snapple can also sell its products exclusively at other city-owned properties. The five-year deal will yield New York City $106 million. The city will also earn a 30% commission on every bottle sold.

Saturn buyers can get Dell computer

Buy a Saturn, Get a Dell." Consumers who buy or lease a 2003 Saturn get a certificate for a free Dell Dimension 2400 desktop computer. The General Motors Corp. brand, which approached Dell, hopes to clear out 2003 models during the advertised month-long promotion. Omnicom Group's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco, handles. Separately, Saturn launched a :60 brand spot on national broadcast and cable TV.

Prius ads explain hybrid technology

Toyota Motor Sales USA, aiming to boost sales and clarify misconceptions about hybrid-engine technology, will back its 2004 model of Prius with the same $30 million media buy given to its first generation Prius in 2000. Publicis Groupe's Saatchi & Saatchi Los Angeles, Torrance, Calif., created the campaign to explain gas-electric technology. Print comes next month; national TV arrives Nov. 9. The first spot from Saatchi will also air in Japan and Europe. Toyota said 1,200 of its current owners ordered the 2004 Prius in a special Internet offer and that it already has 54,000 other prospects from the Internet. It aims to sell 36,000 of the cars next year vs. its projected 20,000 in 2003. AdAge.com QwikFIND aao98k

Steve Gatfield, Leo Burnett Worldwide's Chicago-based chief operating officer, is leaving the company. His job will be eliminated. Mr. Gatfield, 45, joined Burnett in 1987 in London, where he ran the U.K. office from 1993 until 1997, and moved to Chicago in 2001 to join the agency's global management team. Before that, he spent four years as regional managing director of Leo Burnett Asia-Pacific. Mr. Gatfield will continue as a director of Beacon Communications, Tokyo, a joint venture he helped create between Dentsu and Burnett and the former D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles. AdAge.com QwikFIND aao98i

Unilever sells oral-care brands

On the heels of its agreement to sell Brut men's care line to Helen of Troy (The Week, Sept. 8), Unilever last week said it will sell its U.S. and Canadian oral-care brands to Church & Dwight Co., maker of Arm & Hammer products. The deal, expected to close in the fourth quarter, covers Mentadent, Pepsodent and Aim and exclusive licensing rights to Close-Up toothpaste, which had combined sales of $61 million in the U.S. and Canada through the first six months of 2003. The brands will help more than double Church & Dwight's oral-care sales. Unilever will receive $104 million in cash plus additional payments of $5 million to $12 million depending on how the brands perform. The U.S. oral-care brands have not had agency assignments in recent years. Church & Dwight handles advertising in-house. AdAge.com QwikFIND aao98b

The Recording Industry Association of America fired the latest salvo in the battle against illegal file-sharing last week by filing 261 lawsuits seeking $200 million in damages for copyright infringement. The move, made on behalf of major record labels including AOL Time Warner's Warner Music, Bertelsmann AG's BMG Music, EMI Group and Sony Corp.'s Sony Music Entertainment, is the strongest indication to date that the music industry is serious about nabbing users of illegal file-sharing services. AdAge.com QwikFIND aao98a...Millennium Import Co., importers of Belvedere vodka, filed a lawsuit Aug. 28 against Sidney Frank Importing, which distributes Grey Goose vodka, for false advertising, consumer fraud and trade libel in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota. Millennium also filed a motion for a preliminary injunction to stop Sidney Frank's current Grey Goose ad campaign. AdAge.com QwikFIND aao97x ...Steve Luker, a creative director whose art direction helped craft the signature "plus" sign look on Hewlett-Packard's global branding campaign, has left Omnicom's Goodby, Silverstein & Partners, San Francisco after 16 months.